crocheted

mood blanket

In 2024, I noncommittally committed to crocheting (on average) 1 row per day, using yarn colors that represented emotions I experienced that day.

Why

  • 65% - I wanted to see what it felt like to build something slowly with love, rather than quickly with passion

  • 15% - I can’t seem to resist opportunities to test myself (positive)

  • 15% - I can’t seem to resist opportunities to test myself (negative)

  • 5% - Some days, I feel so grey and drained and anti-creative that I feel this emptiness where the urge to create typically is. And I know that on those days, I still want to make stuff, even if I don’t feel like it; and if I don’t already have something (1) low-effort, and (2) in progress and lined up, I won’t have the energy or desire to start something from scratch.

How I did it: Loading…

  • Blanket specs

  • Crochet pattern

  • Mood key

  • Notion tracking set-up

What I learned: Loading…

  • It’s hard to do something every single day. Thank goodness for tracking.

Mood Analysis (i.e., the Breakdown Breakdown <3)

  • Per emotion count

  • Graphing incidence of each emotion over time?

Would I do it again?

  • Yes

so, the mood blanket itched several scratches:

  • I got to see something grow, stitch by stitch and row by row.

  • It was a pre-coded, repetitive, low effort and low time-commitment project; I just needed to use the color I felt, for roughly 250 stitches (~5-8 minutes of crocheting for me), on average once a day (once, I went two weeks without crocheting but kept track of my moods so I could blast through a mega catch up session when I had time).

  • It killed the second bird of practicing emotion regulation and gratitude, which is something I’ve historically struggled with, as a rather unfortunately short-sighted and Highly Emotional Overthinker.